# 1886 in Wales

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This article is about the particular significance of the year 1886 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Richard Davies
* Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk
* Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (until 31 March); John Ernest Greaves (from 17 May)
* Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse
* Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
* Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – William Cornwallis-West
* Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Hugh Robert Hughes
* Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot
* Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Robert Davies Pryce
* Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort
* Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis
* Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington
* Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Arthur Walsh, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite
* Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
* Bishop of Llandaff – Richard Lewis
* Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
* Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones
* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd

## Events

* 9 June – Soprano Adelina Patti marries tenor Ernesto Nicolini in south Wales.
* 1 September – The Great Western Railway opens the Severn Tunnel to regular goods and mineral traffic (and to passengers on 1 December).
* September – Opening of the Llandudno Pier Pavilion Theatre.
* 15 October
** 20 people are drowned when the sailing ship Malleny is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl.
** 18 people are drowned when the sailing ship Teviotdale is wrecked on Cefn Sidan Sands in Carmarthenshire.
* 16 October
** Statue of the Liberal politician John Batchelor unveiled in Cardiff
* November
** Serious flooding in Aberystwyth.
** The keeper of the Mumbles lighthouse is swept out to sea and drowned.
** The rivers Mawddach, Dee and Taff all flood.
* Cantref Reservoir on the Taff Fawr is completed.
* Opening of the Cardiff Stock Exchange.
* Cymru Fydd is founded by the Liberal Party to further the cause of home rule.
* The Welsh Land League is founded.
* Beginning of the tithe revolt in Denbighshire.
* The corporation of the Borough of Holt is dissolved.

## Arts and literature
### Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Caernarfon
* Chair – Richard Davies, "Gobaith"
* Crown – John Cadfan Davies

### New books

* Rhoda Broughton – Doctor Cupid

### Music

* William Owen "of Prysgol" – Y Perl Cerddorol yn cynnwys tonau ac anthemau, cysegredig a moesol (sol-fa edition)

## Sport

* Football – Druids win the Welsh Cup for the fifth time in its nine-year history.
* Rugby union – Abercynon RFC and Treorchy RFC are founded.

## Births

* 3 March – Jack Jones, Wales international rugby player (died 1951)
* 4 March – Rowland Griffiths, Wales international rugby player (died 1914)
* 5 March
** Paul Radmilovic, competitive swimmer, 4-times Olympic gold medal winner (died 1968)
** Freddie Welsh, né Thomas, World lightweight boxing champion (died 1927 in the United States)
* 14 March – David Watts, Wales international rugby union player (died 1916)
* 16 March – James Llewellyn Davies, VC winner (died 1917)
* 28 March – John Osborn Williams, entrepreneur (died 1963)
* 3 May – Morgan Jones, politician (died 1939)
* 4 May – Olive Wheeler, educationalist (died 1963)
* 6 June – John Morgan, Archbishop of Wales (died 1957)
* 17 June – David Brunt, meteorologist (died 1965)
* 11 July – Ernest Willows, aviation pioneer (died 1926)
* 13 July – Huw Menai (Huw Owen Williams), poet (died 1961)
* 22 September – Bil Perry, Welsh international rugby player (died 1970)
* 29 September – Jack Williams, VC recipient (died 1953)
* 9 November (probably) – S. O. Davies, politician (died 1972)
* 10 November – Fred Birt, Wales international rugby union player (died 1956)
* 22 December – David James Jones, philosopher and academic (died 1947)

## Deaths

* 28 February – John Jones, politician, 73
* 12 March – Edward Arthur Somerset, politician, 69
* 31 March – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn, 85
* 7 May – Timothy Richards Lewis, surgeon and pathologist, 44
* 9 June – Edward Williams, iron-master, 60)
* 9 July – Roger Edwards, minister and writer, 75
* 13 October – John Prichard, architect, 69
* 29 October – Evan Evans, ("Evans Bach Nantyglo"), minister, 82